The historic contribution of Mises was represented not so much by the magisterial works that he produced in 1912, or 1922, in 1933, or 1940 — as by his courageous, lonely vigil during the arid decades of the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

In 1918, the Soviet Union became the first country to promise universal “cradle-to-grave” healthcare coverage, to be accomplished through the complete socialization of medicine. The disastrous results speak for themselves.